Edward Feild

“ To-morrow with the first dawn, the men and boys will be all out on their fishing-grounds, the women busy in their houses, the elder girls nursing the younger children; and I must be on the move to perform a like perfunctory service to others in the same state of ignorance, of whom I believe there are more than two hundred in this bay. ”

“ The vegetation is very luxuriant, and there is plenty of pasture for cows. He could at any time, he said, kill a deer, and had killed upwards of two hundred! and as his neighbours in the bay all supply themselves with the same food, the park must be supposed to be pretty large, and well stocked. In the winter he kills foxes and martens for their skins, wild fowls of various sorts for food. Fuel is superabundant. The water produces fish,—salmon, herring, and mackerel; the ice brings the seals. ”

“ It is a fine harbour, but like most in this bay with very deep water. We found here a Mr. C——, with a vessel and crew from Greenspond for the summer fishery. He reported favourably of his catch, and speaks of the bay as generally very prolific. Besides cod-fish, [22] salmon, and trout in abundance, later in the fall he expects to catch mackerel; and this is the only bay in which, at present, they are found in Newfoundland. Deer also abound in the neighbourhood; some have been killed lately, and more might be found if the people cared to look after them ”

“ In the summer they occupy, by themselves, this large harbour, shut in by immense cliffs, which no person ever ascends or descends. In the winter they occupy and possess the Horse-Islands, lying several miles from the shore, surrounded for months by ice.
Seldom in either place do they see any human being, except the members of their own family, and not one of the family can read. In summer they catch salmon and codfish ”

“ In this Cove, which, at this season, and all seasons when the wind is not strong from N.W., is a splendid harbour, are only two families; but one boat's load had preceded us from Purbeck Cove to profit by the Sunday services. We found the people on shore (a family of [24] Osmonds) , very thankful for our coming, though a Roman Catholic family had just arrived to spend the Sunday with them. How so many people are lodged and accommodated (there must be twenty-five now here) in one small hut is difficult to understand. ”

“ A more secluded, retired spot could hardly, I think, be found, or more picturesque withal. Wild gooseberries grow on the shore in abundance, and, of course, other fruits, which no hand gathers and no eye sees. Here the people report themselves to have been very successful in their fishery this year. It is the first place where we have heard of success.
Thursday, July 14th. At Gold Cove.—Some of our congregation came on board before nine o'clock, but others, having to contend with a head wind, did not arrive till 10.30. ”

“ Two women, neighbours, had each baptized the other's children. After the services, I gave away a number of elementary books for children; three or four Prayer-books, and one Bible were purchased. At two o'clock they all took their departure, with many expressions of pleasure and gratitude. We got away just before a violent north-easter (a wind which always comes, as they say, with the butt end first) , which carried us rapidly to Gold Cove, at the head of the bay. It is a snug, well-sheltered [20] place, but the water is deep almost up to the shore ”

“ The young women who showed so much apparent good feeling at baptism, are their children. Here the people keep cows and sheep, and live in much comfort, and we obtained a small supply of milk and fresh meat: I had not tasted any meat, and only once fowl, for a fortnight. We have had no fresh meat on board, and the fish and salmon, of which we have abundance for nothing, is in my judgment better and more wholesome (not to speak of economy) than the salted and preserved meats. ”

“ Now, as there are no roads to, or on, this shore, and each settlement therefore can only be approached by sea, and by sea only for four or five months in the year, in any vessel larger than a boat, it is exceedingly difficult to minister to, or visit the inhabitants. Nevertheless, I have been enabled, by the aid of my Church-ship, to visit, at intervals of four years, since 1848, most of the settlements on this shore. In St. George's Bay, indeed, the most thickly or largely inhabited part, a Church has been built, and one of our Society's missionaries stationed for several years ”

“ We beat into Lark Harbour, against a violent head-wind, and did not get to anchor till ten o'clock. The people on shore seemed to be employed in turning their fish, [37] and other daily labour; but on sending to them, they expressed their readiness and desire to profit by the services. We could not begin our morning service till twelve o'clock, when the people had all come on board. Three children were conditionally baptized. Evening service at half-past four o'clock, after which three couples were married ”

“ Little Coney Arm, at sea, and Bear Cove.—Sailed from Little Coney Arm at four o'clock A.M., wind light, but fair for crossing the bay, and we accordingly passed over to Bear Cove. We found that all the inhabitants (four families) were at home, or on their fishing-grounds, and all professed members of the Church of England, and greatly desirous to be admitted, by baptism or reception as the case might require; and two couples, who had been united by a fisherman, expressed a wish to be duly married. ”

“ Twenty-one in all were admitted, the majority with hypothetical baptism. Both of the women who came to be married had infants in their arms; one of them had three children. Not one person in the whole settlement could read correctly, except the woman before mentioned; her husband (a native of Bay of Islands) , a little. He had, however, been employed to marry one of our present couples, which he confessed to me with some shame and confusion of face, saying, "he had picked the words out of the book as well as he could make them out," but he did not baptise, because "that reading was too hard;" ”

“ Sop's Island, at sea, and at Gold Cove.—I had appointed the service at nine o'clock, being anxious to get forward, if possible, in the afternoon; but it was not till after twelve o'clock that the poor people could arrange their little (to them great) matters, and come with their children properly attired. Some had to go on board a trader lying in the harbour to purchase clothes; several came from a distance against a head wind. Two couples were married before, and two after, the prayers; six children of one of the pairs were admitted into the Church: all had been baptized by lay hands. ”

“ After this service, Mr. Johnson married the two couples, and I examined the children in their prayers and belief, which I found most of them could repeat more or less correctly, but not one knew a letter of the alphabet. It was considerably after nine o'clock before we could dismiss our visitors, and sorry they seemed to be dismissed as I was to dismiss them. Poor people! the fair faces of the children would have moved the admiration of a Gregory; and the destitute, forsaken [17] condition of all would move the compassion of any one who believed they have souls to be saved ”

“ By the woman he now lives with he has had seven children, most of whom are grown up, and [19] several married. When he saw my vessel with a female on board, he thought his wife was come from Twillingate, and went and hid himself in the woods. Some of his children and grandchildren were among those admitted this day into the Church. After the prayers and two addresses from myself, one in connexion with the baptismal service, and one in place of a sermon, two couples were married. These services were not finished till nearly nine o'clock. ”

“ Little Harbour Deep.—Before [11] four o'clock, two of my men, with a boy from shore, went to Grandfather's Cove (Grande-Vache) to invite the families (Randalls) living there to our services. Though so early, one of the families had gone to their fishing ground before our men arrived. The others gladly accepted the invitation. This being the first day of missionary work, or services, on board the Church-ship, I had to instruct my friends, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Tucker, how to arrange and deck the large cabin for the congregation. ”

“ Twenty-one children were received into the Church, and one couple married. Very few, if any, except some men of Mr. C——'s crew (who, thanks to their good pastor at Greenspond, had their Prayer-books, and were attentive and well behaved) could read, but most of the children could say the Lord's [23] Prayer and Creed. One woman brought forward her daughter as "a terrible girl" to, say her Creed and Lord's Prayer, and some of the Commandments ”

“ I proposed to take the only woman left behind, with her children, on board the Church-ship, to join her friends and relations at Sop's Island, to which she gladly assented, and they came on board accordingly. We then weighed anchor again at 12.30, to beat to Sop's Island, which we reached between three [18] and four o'clock. We landed immediately with our poor fisherman's wife, who appeared an intelligent, seriously-disposed person, and she could read. ”

“ This is the eighth harbour I have been anchored in, this week, and in six I have held services; and except in entering Little Coney Arm, have encountered neither difficulty nor delay. The winds have been generally fair, the weather always fine; the people, without exception, grateful for our visits and services. Ninety-two persons of various ages have been formally received into the Church; eight couples married; one person admitted to the Lord's Supper; nearly one hundred and eighty of all ages have been present at the services. ”

“ The sad state of religious destitution in many settlements in Newfoundland and Labrador had been, I thought, sufficiently shown; and the benefits and blessing conferred, and to be [4] conferred, by the Society, thankfully stated and fully demonstrated. ”

“ He has often gone to put out the fires thus carelessly left, by which thousands of acres of wood might be destroyed, and the inhabitants driven from their homes.
Monday, July 18th. At Seal Cove.—This was our first day of delay since coming into the Bay. A strong north-east wind with a heavy lop, made it useless to attempt to proceed. In the afternoon all the people on shore came to our service, and I explained "the articles of our Belief, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer." In the evening, Mr. ”